New Whittlesey auction house approved despite parking concerns

The business will sell “unwanted items,” for example from house clearances of people who have passed away or the stock of bankrupt businesses, from Unit 16 at Springwater Business Park in Station Road.

The site, which is close to a day nursery, was previously a vehicle repair workshop but is now vacant.

The application from Glyn Jones, which has been approved by Fenland District Council, says the applicant has “operated the business for over 40 years”.

According to a planning statement submitted to the council, the auction would take place on Saturdays from 9am, two days after a catalogue of available items is made available to view online.

Viewings would also take place, in person, on a Friday afternoon, while the premises would open on Sundays for the collection of items purchased by customers online or those who were not present at the auction the day before.

The application was approved despite the concerns of Whittlesey Town Council which called for a decision to be deferred until a traffic management report was produced by an independent company due to a potential shortfall of parking.

The existing building has 10 parking spaces which will primarily be used by the employees of the new business, as well as visitors.

The council was told that a maximum of 20 people are expected to attend the Saturday auctions in one go, with “no more than 10 cars at any one time” for collections.

A letter submitted as part of the application states: “We understand that the owners of the day nursery have confirmed that they are happy for the applicant to use their site for parking, outside of their normal hours. As previously stated, the landlord of the applicant has confirmed the same.”

The majority of visitors are expected to arrive outside of normal working hours.

Cambridgeshire County Council’s Highways Department said the district council “needs to be satisfied” that parking outside other businesses will not lead to complaints, while it also questioned what assessment had been carried out to be confident there would be no more than 20 visitors at any time on auction day.

However, it did not raise an overall objection as there is “unrestricted kerbside parking available within walking distance of the application site”.

The planning application stated that the auction house would “help to bring a vacant unit back into use, which will have a positive impact for the businesses in the area”.